The apostle Paul had one important question for the Galatian believers. He wrote, ‘This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?’ True religion begins when a person receives the Spirit. They are born to see when the faith of God is given to them. This faith comes to them through an illumination. As Christ is portrayed before a hearer through the preaching of the cross, the light of illumination comes to them from Christ’s crucified, marred face. A spirit of grace and supplication causes a person to look upon Christ and mourn. As they mourn, they begin to receive the spirit of their sonship from the Father. They enter the kingdom when the Holy Spirit, the Son and the Father, come and dwell within them.

Receiving the Spirit of God in Christ is the only thing that is necessary for true religion. A person, whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, can only receive the Spirit of God by the hearing of faith. They receive the capacity to hear the word of God, and receive the faith that comes by hearing, through the word that is preached by Christ’s messengers. A messenger is a member of the body of Christ in whom Christ is speaking, by the Holy Spirit, according to who they are being sanctified to become as a son of God.

The Spirit is ministered to a person by members of the body of Christ who are a gift of the Holy Spirit. How does a member of the body of Christ become a gift of the Spirit to others? It is by receiving the Holy Spirit. When a member of the body of Christ is filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit becomes the expression of their name; that is, their sanctification as a son of God is revealed as they are ministering the life of Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Not too bad! But once again spelled out as a very detailed process and sequence of events with the "messenger" playing the usual integral role.

Seems though that the "messenger" notion is progressively getting watered down to not just the esteemed ones but maybe even the common folk of the body of Christ. No apology or retraction for the error of historic "star messenger" heresy though.....mmmnnnn.

Oh and while we are talking about "true religion" and "gifts" let's not forget
True religion is....... James 1:27 - seems odd that this goodie not be quoted as a reference on the subject of true religion. Perhaps not???

And gifts ... well we are encouraged that the greatest of gifts is the gifts is...... 1 Cor 13:13. No it's not prophecy or tongues or messengers or hope or faith it's L.O.V.E. Love

Bless the Lord Jesus Christ for that great gift. Help me Lord to unwrap that present first!!!

I have a problem with the 'faith comes by illumination' statement and all that follows about seeing Christ's face. (But then I have a lot of problems with a lot of the RFI/BCF/MCF statements!)

It seems to me this message is another of those those half correct but not really accurate ones that give the impression the speaker has some special knowledge. Behold the gnostic convolutions of the RFI teachings!

Why not just write on the message from James on True Religion? No, we just use the heading then whack in some tried and true statements peppered with the RFI heresies and voila! we have a message that sounds good but is totally confusing.

Faith comes by hearing - sure but only through the RFI messenger.

Receiving the Spirit of God is the only thing necessary for True Religion ... Rubbish. The things mentioned in James also require you to get off your backside, go out into your community and do something helpful.

The members of the Body of Christ are a gift of the Holy Spirit? Last time I looked the Holy Spirit gives gifts of various kinds ... Is the member the gift or do they have the gifts because they have the Holy Spirit? Please don't try to answer this ... I don't intend to start a grammatical war!! It's just an example to show how the words and ideas are twisted ... Cunning techniques to boggle the mind.

And gifts ... well we are encouraged that the greatest of gifts is the gifts is...... 1 Cor 13:13. No it's not prophecy or tongues or messengers or hope or faith it's L.O.V.E. Love

Bless the Lord Jesus Christ for that great gift. Help me Lord to unwrap that present first!!!

One of the few incredible events that brought me to realise that the Almighty is who He says He is, is connected with this quote of yours...

I don't remember the date, but He knows when it was, maybe 1987,

On the worship service that ended a mission I attended just across the border into SA from Vic, the brother conducting the mission (I think at Glencoe West) and a local brother from Millicent I had got to know while doing some short-term design work at the nearby Kimberley-Clark paper Mill at Tantanoola laid hands on me and were praying to know (at my request) specifically what gifting the Almighty had for me.

I was a new charismatic, and the confusing detail newbies encountered was often quite dramatic.The contradictory stuff I found a worry there too.

Both these brothers are with the Lord, now; the evangelist was Rev Horrie Dunkin from Werribee, a church planter with astonishing skill and knowledge, and the local chap was the Millicent AoG pastor, Maurie Thompson. Both had become friends.

Suddenly I heard the portion of that scripture (which I knew well) "And the greatest of these is LOVE"

Yes, I heard those actual words, in perfect English, but the voice was unfamiliar.

So we gave thanks and I realised later that what I had been hoping for was the gift of tongues (or interpretation) as those were held in great store by charismatics above all other gifts.

"The Greatest of these is Love". Wow!

So that has colored my relationship with everybody whom I have helped since.

And you know, it has taken away so much pain from my life prior to that time.